FAQ

1Why should we choose China-Link Translation? What are your strengths as compared to other companies?

That’s a good question! China-Link Translation, as the name suggests, is a local company in Singapore focusing on translation and interpreting of local languages, namely, Malay, Tamil and Chinese, as well as English, the native language of Mr. Thomas Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore, and other European languages.

You may not be made convinced that your choice of China-Link Translation is a correct one. However, you will not doubt your decision if you know our strengths as follows:

While trying to get three quotes to compare, you may wish to make a decision by weighing our strengths as follows:

We are extremely responsive within 10~30 minutes, 24/7, all year around;

We don’t captivate customers by accreditations such as ISO 9001, or other gimmick stunts, but are fully committed to creating a fond down-to-earth customer experience with an added-value;

Not only do we do translation, but transcreation as well by giving our input with our better flow;

We are proficient in both the language and the subject involved by engaging industry-specific native speakers only;

We can deliver large and difficult projects within tight turnaround times;

We offer the most competitive rates in Singapore, e.g. $0.05/wrd or $25/page for large translation projects;

As a local translation company, we know Singapore and Southeast Asia better in terms of both language and culture.

Last but not the least, we are able to do what our competitors deem impossible in terms price, quality and turnaround time.

2As far as I know, China-Link Translation offers the most competitive prices in Singapore. Since your price is so low, is your quality dependable? How do you ensure quality?

Right, quality is a perpetual issue for every line of business. No business can survive without quality, and the same is true for translation. At China-Link Translation, we are committed to delivering the best quality service to our clients by hiring only subject-specific linguists on the one hand and implementing a strict quality control process on the other. Furthermore, we have set up an integrated translation information system from a combination of the Internet (Googling), hardware facilities, specialist translation software, project management software, a massive vocabulary and materials database, and translation memory system as well as communication system with our clients, thus guaranteeing the quality of our translation services.

Our objective is to achieve maximum “professionalism, accuracy and perfection” to the full satisfaction of our clients.

As to how we survive with the lowest price in Singapore, you might have heard of the saying, “small profits and good sales”. That’s why we have such a large and loyal customer base. This would be simply impossible if our quality was not dependable!

3Our document is highly confidential. How can we be sure that you will not disclose it to a third party?

At China-Link Translation, we always give the highest priority to confidentiality. Over the years, our commitment to keeping confidential all the data of our clients, even without entering into a Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) with them, has earned us the trust of some of the best-known companies in the world, such as, IBM, Roche Singapore, Siemens Singapore, Aon Consulting, ST Electronics, MPRI, Eli-Lilly, SIA, INC Research, Nettlton Global, Walton International Group, etc. not to speak of Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office, whose documents are of course highly confidential.

In order to make sure all the information received from the client is kept confidential, we have a Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) signed with all our translators, editors, proofreaders and anybody who needs to have access to our data. Furthermore, all documents are encoded before being translated or processed by our staff, whom are given a password for accessing the files. In this way, only the people concerned have access to the relevant information. Highly confidential documents are handled only by our in-house linguists and experts, so please feel safe entrusting us with your precious data. Even when we assign a project to our China-based employees, the related files are kept only to themselves under the standard NDA we signed with them, and there is no way for the information to be released to a third party.

If you feel that our word is not enough on its own, we are willing to commit it to paper. Simply click to Download our standard NDA, fill in your company name, date and sign it in duplicate, and then scan and send both copies to us. We will, upon receipt, immediately sign them and return one copy to you by email followed by the original by mail.

4What are the benefits to us if we become your long-term loyal customer?

A long-term partnership is beneficial to both parties in a sense that it creates a win-win situation. Under our long-term loyal customer program, we offer our long-term valued customers the following benefits:

(1) A further discount of 5%;

(2) Development of a customized solution by establishing a terminology and information database;

(3) Giving priority to these customers by assigning dedicated linguists and technical staff to them so that the quality and speed of translation can always be assured.

5Are you able to produce a certified true translation for submission to local government agencies or the courts?

Yes, absolutely. We have been performing certified translation for more than 20 years in cooperation with Hight Court Translation Department that stopped providing this serve in January 2016 due to loss every day and let private companies or embassies handle it. To produce a certified true translation, we need to attest to the accuracy of the English translated from the source language, and sign it and affix our official “Certified True Translation” thereto. Then it will be accepted by local government bodies and the courts.

What needs to be stated here is that starting from January 2016, all certificates to be submitted to ICA, must, if they are in a foreign language, be translated into English, and certified and notarized if they are used for PR or citizenship application.

6Do you provide notarization for the translation done by your company?

No, but we can help you have it notarized by our lawyer for/on your behalf. This is because notarization can only be done by a notary public, who is generally a lawyer or attorney-at-law that has practiced law for at least twelve (12) years. No translator is qualified to provide a notarial certificate for the certified translation unless he or she is a notary public.

On some occasions, court requires that an affidavit be signed by the translator in front of a commissioner for oath. If this is the case, we will arrange for our translator/proofreader to take an oath before the commissioner for oath that he/she is the person who did the translation accurately to the best of his/her knowledge. The commissioner for oath will thereupon affix his seal to the original copy of the translation.

7What is your normal turnaround time for delivering a job? Can you deliver large and difficult projects within the shortest possible turnaround time?

Our normal turnaround time for delivering a project is 3 working days for a document of up to 10 pages (approximately 5000 words) or 5 working days for a document of up to 30 pages (about 15,000 words). We provide 24 hours service for a 30-50% markup of the usual price. Taking a large, difficult and urgent translation project and finishing it within the shortest possible period of time can be very challenging. But we are able to undertake it thanks to the availability of our experienced, professional translators who provide prompt and efficient delivery.

8Do you charge by word or by page? How do you calculate the number of words?

We normally charge by word, except where the text to be translated is very short. Calculation of the number of words is based on Word Count, one of the functions of Microsoft Word (Click “Tools”, and then “Word Count”). If you have a soft copy of the document to be translated, you can get the result directly by yourself; if you don’t have a soft copy, then the number of words to be translated can only be estimated or counted manually, for which the simplest method is: number of lines x number of words in each line x number of pages = number of words to be translated. You can also send your document to us via email for a free estimate of the word count.

We can also go by page should our clients prefer we quote that way.

9Is your translation done in Singapore?

Yes. We have quite a number of translators qualified in various languages based in Singapore. Their language proficiency and industry knowledge are generally sufficient to cover the needs of our clients. Therefore, we don’t have to subcontract our projects to external freelancers or to overseas vendors, as most of our competitors do. Only when there is a need to provide a custom-tailored service to our clients that cannot be sourced locally do we seek the help of the external translators in our database. However, even when we farm out projects to translators in other countries, we never lose control or compromise on quality. Our Singapore office is always responsible for the final quality control process before a job is delivered to you. So, even if a job is processed overseas, you may rest assured that its quality is impeccable.

10Do you charge again if we wish to make amendments to the translation?

No. While we make every effort to make sure the translation is correct and accurate to your full satisfaction, the end-product is open to free amendments after delivery unless otherwise specified in the quotation. This shows not only our confidence in what we deliver, but also our commitment to you in delivering excellence. Having said that, there is rarely any request for amendments being made from our customers, thanks to our stringent quality control process. Even when there is, it is usually just for minor amendments. We seldom come across a case where a job is amended by our customer more than twice.

However, the above is restricted to target language only. If after we have finished the translation, and you come back to us with an updated version of the source language and ask us to update the target language, we will have to charge you a minimum $30 for the additional text based on the number of words added.

11Do you use computer software to perform translations?

No, never. Machine translations are erroneous and far from being able to reach the level required for normal reading, because the software, no matter how advanced it is, can never outperform the dynamic range of knowledge and experience possessed by human beings. Also, as machine translation requires a considerable amount of editing and proofreading work, it often takes longer than human translation when standardization and consistency of the content is taken into account. Therefore, before AI dominates translation industry, we will, in the foreseeable future, only use human beings to do translation, although our work is sometimes assistedwith the use of Memory Tools software such as Trados and Wordfast to ensure consistency of terminologies.

About China-Link

China-Link International Translation & Interpreting Centre (“China-Link Translation”) was established in Singapore in 1997 to meet the demand from local enterprises for the translation of documents related to making investments in China in the late 1990s.